Tag: Issue 29 Volume 19

Cafeterias hope to extend menu in near future

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By Jonathan Baca, Copy Editor

During the time of year when many students have made resolutions to eat healthier and lose weight, there may be plans to add some new, healthier options to the cafeteria’s menu, said Sodexo General Manager Vinnie Crispino.

Results from an October survey that was conducted by Sodexo, the company that buys food for and manages the CNM cafeterias, showed that students wanted some healthier options, and these requests are now being considered, Crispino said.

The top three things students wanted to see at the cafeteria were a deli with fresh hot and cold sandwiches, a full time salad bar and a grill, Crispino said.

“We’ve put this information together, and we’ve gone to CNM and said this is what we’d like to do, to do a remodel and serve the products that the students want us to serve,” Crispino said.

Sodexo, a multinational food service company, only manages the cafeterias, which are owned by CNM, and it will be up to administration whether the money will be spent to add these items and remodel the school’s cafeterias, Crispino said.

“I would love to see a salad bar. I’m trying to cut back on all the greasy, deep fried foods, and it’s really hard to do that when I’m trapped on campus during lunch. Most of the stuff they serve is the kind of thing I’m trying to cut back on,” said Nursing major Natalie Garcia.

Crispino said that Sodexo management had a meeting on Tuesday, January. 14 with the office of Student Affairs to discuss the survey results and make a presentation on the proposed changes, and that another meeting will be scheduled for Feb. 11.

Sodexo already offers some healthier options, including veggie wraps, Odwalla products, veggie burgers, and a salad bar during certain times of the year, but this is not enough for some students with special diets, said Liberal Arts major Chad Roberts.

“I don’t eat gluten, and it is pretty much impossible for me to eat a big lunch at the cafeteria. There are a few snacks I can eat, sure, but I’d really like to see them think about people with special diets more,” Roberts said.

Crispino said that because Sodexo buys their ingredients in bulk in order to get the best possible price, it can be difficult and costly to keep more specialty products like vegan, organic and gluten free foods in stock.

“Yes we could do that, and yes it would be more expensive. But I don’t know if it would sell enough to keep the items fresh and good quality,” Crispino said.

Aside from the salad bar that was the second most requested item on the survey, Crispino said that vegan, organic and gluten free options did not receive many votes.

He said that another survey will be conducted next October, and that if enough students got together and asked for these types of items, they would have a better chance of being offered by the cafeteria in the future.

Crispino also pointed out that Sodexo only manages the cafeterias, and that if the school decided it was important enough to offer these types of food options, they could change the menu and serve them, whatever the cost.

“We only manage the business. So if CNM is losing a quarter million dollars here in the food business they are going to say, ‘we need to raise the prices, we need to cut down on the portions.’ Or they could say ‘we’re going to continue to subsidize for that and let the students eat at the rate they are,’ but we’d probably go out of business soon,” Crispino said.

Another question asked in the survey was whether students would want to see name-brand foods or chain restaurants on campus, Crispino said.

The survey showed that students would like to see a Subway, Dion’s, or Blake’s Lotaburger restaurant on campus, he said.

There is no word yet whether the school has any plans to open an outside restaurant on campus, but because of the contract with Sodexo, these would have to be owned by CNM and franchised and managed by Sodexo, Crispino said.

Food trucks are not allowed to do business on any campus that has a Sodexo cafeteria for the same reason, he said.

Crispino pointed out that students or faculty with special dietary needs are always free to bring their own lunches or go off campus to eat.

“People can bring their lunch in, they don’t have to eat here,” Crispino said.

Crispino said he feels that the cafeteria is moving in the right direction, and he hopes that the changes the students have requested will be made.

As for the higher prices this might bring, he said he does not see it as a problem.

“Students are looking for a value but they don’t necessarily worry about price that much, believe it or not. They know what they want to eat and they are going to pay for it,” Crispino said.

 

 

School looks to hire 30 new full-time instructors

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By Jonathan Baca, Copy Editor

CNM is hiring for 30 full-time faculty positions, 22 of which are newly created positions, and current part-time instructors who want these jobs will not have any special treatment in the hiring process, said SAGE instructor and CNM Employees Union President Andrew Tibble.

The full-time positions are open across many campuses and schools, and applications were due on Friday, January 17, and the newly hired instructors will begin in the fall, according to cnm.edu.

There has been some controversy about the high percentage of instructors at CNM who are considered part-time, but Director of Communications and Marketing Relations Brad Moore said the school has been trying to increase the number of full-time positions available.

“CNM made a commitment a couple years ago to start increasing full-time faculty rates. Since then, CNM is trying to do this in a strategic manner. So when we see a trend that says we can use more full-time faculty in a certain area, we’re moving to create more full-time positions in those areas,” Moore said.

Tibble said that in his last estimate, there were about 330 full-time instructors, and about 750 part-timers.

In a survey conducted by the Employees Union, 47 percent of the current part-time instructors polled said that they aspired to get a full-time position, and about half of those polled said they relied on CNM for a substantial part of their income, Tibble said.

Tibble also said that these results may indicate that a strong majority of those who work steadily at CNM do want full-time positions.

“There really is no preference given to part-timers. They don’t have a different process for people who are internal. It’s a very competitive process,” Tibble said.

Moore said that everyone who applies for these positions will get an equal chance of being hired, and that there is no special process for current part-timers looking for a promotion.

“CNM definitely encourages all of our part-time faculty who are interested in these positions to apply for them. Of course if they are working at CNM that will be taken into consideration. But there is an obligation on CNM that we have to hire the best candidates possible,” Moore said.

While no quota or system exists that explicitly favors part-timers already working for the school, numbers provided by Moore show that in the last several years, a higher percentage of new full-time hires came from existing part-time faculty than from outside the school.

According to Moore, 67.5 percent of the open full-time faculty positions in 2012-13 were filled by CNM part-time faculty members, and in the year before, 62.2 percent were filled by existing part-timers.

“We definitely want to provide as many full time positions as we can. We know those positions are coveted by a lot of people, they are definitely quality jobs, and we are trying to offer as many as feasibly possible within the constraints of the college,” Moore said.

Tibble said that when he has been a part of the hiring process at SAGE, he did feel that there was no hiring bias either way.

“There is the sense that everybody has got a shot at getting the job,” Tibble said.

He did say that even an exemplary teaching record at CNM may not give an instructor a leg up in an interview, and that he is aware of many instructors who feel that loyal, hard working part-timers should have a better chance of being hired for a full-time position.

“Some people do feel there should be a preference given to people who have worked as part-time for a long time and taught a lot of courses,” Tibble said.

Tibble said that if there was a clear preference for a certain group in the hiring process, there could be a danger that this bias could bring the school under criticism from the outside.

He said his opinion is that although he is not opposed to a completely fair and unbiased hiring process, he does feel that sometimes the school undervalues the advantage of hiring people who have already demonstrated their value and dependability by teaching for years as a part-timer.

“I think that if somebody has been a part-time faculty member at your institution for a few years, then you actually have a much better idea of what that person is like than somebody who comes from outside as a relatively unknown quantity,” Tibble said.

He also said that some instructors do not perform as well during the interview and teaching demonstration process, and that since these are the main factors that determine whether they will get the job, their stellar teaching record could go unnoticed.

“I think part-time faculty have to be aware of that. When they take the job here, what they’re doing as part-time faculty, no matter how many classes they teach or what contribution they make, it’s very rarely going to give them a leg up in the hiring process,” Tibble said.

Moore said that part-time faculty play a vital role at the school, and that their real world experience working in their fields is extremely important to the students they teach.

“We definitely hope they do apply if they are interested in the positions and we’d like to see them advance at CNM if they are the best candidate,” Moore said.

Cops these days get away with murder

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Police brutality and excessive force have become common phrases in today’s society, when everyone has a camera in every pocket now, and with the obvious and gradual militarization of police forces throughout the United States, officers are still rarely being held accountable for beating and killing innocent civilians throughout our country.

The incident that occurred in Fullerton Ca. on July 5, 2011 with Kelly Thomas, who was beaten to death, is making news again because two out of the three police officers that were prosecuted had been found not guilty on Jan. 13, 2014.

The third officer whose trial was pending will not be held at all because of this verdict, which really makes one wonder how these officers got away with brutally beating and killing a man who was pleading for his life.

If you have not seen the 30 minute video of this horrific occurrence, Kelly Thomas begged these officers to stop tazing and beating him, and even yelled out for help from his father, before being beaten into a coma and passing away five days later due to his injuries.

The defense for the two officers suggested that Thomas died of a diseased heart damaged by previous drug use, according to latimes.com, but the coroner in this case determined Thomas’ death was due to injuries sustained by these officers. Not ever in the history of Orange County, where Fullerton is, has an officer been fully prosecuted until now for killing someone in the line of duty, according to ocweekly.com.

If you are not afraid of the rising number of American citizens being beaten and killed by the police force, maybe you should rethink that, because in the last decade the number of people reported to have been killed by U.S. police officers has reached more than 5,000 people, which is said to be more than the number of U.S. soldiers that have been killed in the Iraqi war at 4,489, according to antiwar.com.

There are many places on the internet one can find information about this incident and there are even entire pages dedicated to posting excessive police force incidents such as at reddit.com/r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut/.

When are we going to see what is really going on here in our country and hold these officers accountable for their crimes, instead of giving them a pat on the back for not really protecting and serving anyone but themselves in these rising number of cases?

Police brutality has been an issue in our country for far too long, and has only come to light since technology has been able to hold these people responsible who are supposed to uphold the laws and not break them, and yet nothing is being done about the growing amount of brutality situations that happen with law enforcement each year.

It should be a nationwide policy that all police enforcement officers wear a camera while on duty, not only to protect common citizens and get rid of power hungry bad apples, but to also protect the good officers out there actually trying to make a difference.

But until that happens, it is up to us to record interactions that we have with police officials to protect ourselves and the people around us when situations such as this happen.

Kelly Thomas did nothing wrong except for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and if you feel the same way and would like to see that these officers are prosecuted on a federal level, here is a petition site address at change.org/petitions/sen-dianne-feinstein-investigate-the-death-of-kelly-thomas-as-a-federal-case.

Holding police officers accountable for their crimes starts with all of us, and if we do not care, no one will, and these instances of brutal abuse of power will keep on occurring even more frequently.

“We want your blood!”; Blood bank gives deals for donations

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By Dan Chavez, Staff Reporter | Photo By Dan Chavez

Issue 29 Volume 19

The United Blood Services hosted a blood drive on Jan. 14 and 15 in its mobile unit parked in the Student Services Center parking lot, with the expectation of recruit­ing 18 donors in a day, Mikayla Ortega, Senior Donor Recruitment Representative, said.

Ortega said that there is also a large blood drive scheduled from Feb. 2 through to Feb. 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the UNM campus near the Student Union Building.

UNM will actually be in a com­petition against New Mexico State University, in which eligible donors from UNM, CNM and the surround­ing community are encouraged to visit the mobile contribution unit and donate, she said.

Ortega said that Student Activities Supervisor Brandon Seber and the entire Student Activities Department at CNM were instrumental in bring­ing the blood drive to the CNM campus for two days.

The goal for the event on Tuesday was 18 donors and ended up receiving 15, a number that was a bit short of expectation, but actually not too bad, she said.

Donors at this blood drive received a coupon for 50 percent off nail service or $25 off a hair service by Ruth Lucero at A Touch of Zen Salon, she said.

In addition, those who donate this month can sign up by contact­ing United Blood Services at 1-800- 333-8037 or by going online to unit­edbloodservices.org and entering sponsor code -CNM to get 200 points, she said.

People who would like to donate at a local blood drive can visit the United Blood Services website and click the “donate” link to find sched­uled events in the area, she said.

“Points may be used in our store for items like movie tickets, T-shirts, Baskin Robins, or gift cards,” she said.

Anyone who wishes to donate but did not make the blood drive or cannot make it to the UNM blood drive can visit the United Blood Services Albuquerque loca­t i o n at 1515 Univer s it y Blvd. NE, Ortega said.

Donors who visit the location can still get the redeemable points, but coupons were only given to those at the blood drive, she said.

“We encourage people to donate blood. People always think that the blood is there, but really and truly, this month especially, it is not. So we really need the help of the community, the help of CNM to get behind us and help us stock our shelves,” Ortega said.

Donors may give blood up to three times a year and more than eight weeks between donations to ensure their health and wellness, she said.

Student grows beard, saves world

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By Nick Stern, Managing Editor | Photo by Nick Stern

5

Small Town Entrepreneur, Alan Cordova has a Bachelor’s degree in communications and, among working at The CNM Bookstore at main campus, he has his hands in many different projects here in Albuquerque, Cordova said.

One project that seems to be growing wild is The Duke City Coalition of Facial Fur which only started in March of 2013 and has already started paying it forward and seen great success with its shows, he said.

Competitors essentially pay a fee to enter the different beard competitions and the fees come together and then get divvied up to the charity that is being donated to for that show and the competitors as well, Cordova said.

“So far we have had six shows, all successful and all the charities and sponsors that we have are all local,” he said.

As of right now we have about 79 members in the club and we are also affiliated with Beard Team USA which is the national club.

They do regional as well as national competi­tions,” he said.

Cordova not only started the club to be a part of the community but decided to pay it forward with the proceeds from competitions and differ­ent venues by donating por­tions to people who are less fortunate, he said.

Cordova explained that he knows what it is like to need help and was lucky enough to get it and he would like to help other people and local organi­zations the same way he has been helped before, he said.

“There had been times in my past where I felt I had to ask for help and it was avail­able to me so why not donate portions of the events that we put on to charity?” he said.

Portions of the shows that have been put on have already gone to many different shows like Mandy’s Farm which is for women with autism, Pay it Forward New Mexico which is a non-profit organization that helps people in need, The Sons of Perdition-an all-male burlesque troop, cancer research, The Heart Institute, and the list did not end there, he said.

The best way to contact the coalition would be to find them on their Facebook page at the Duke City Coalition of Facial Fur, he said.

There are also local sponsors that help out with the prizes which go to first, second and third place win­ners depending on the catego­ries and how big the turnout is, he said.

Some of the categories that have been seen at the com­petitions with bigger turn­outs and participation have included full beards, mous­taches, natural full beards, freestyle, goatees, sideburns, artificial beards, and women with beards, Cordova said.

“We do not exclude anybody by any means,” Cordova said.

Some of the shows put on by The Duke City Coalition of Facial Fur have had hundreds of people show up and at least fifty to sixty people competing in the competitions, he said.

One of the shows that are coming up should be on Feb 22 but is not set in stone yet, he said. It is supposed to happen at the Sister Bar and all the proceeds from the show will be going to the Flamingo Club that burnt down recently, Cordova said.

“So again, it is just a big circle. Everybody is just trying to help out everybody. When we put on shows, we are trying to get local businesses involved heavily,” he said.

Another show that is pretty much set in stone is planned for May four and is going to be Star Wars Themed, Cordova said.

Cordova is also involved in other projects that are always keeping him busy, he said.

Cordova also helps his wife in her project called C Squared Promotions which basically promotes local musi­cians and bands, he said.

He also does hip-hop and poetry collaborations with a project called Secrets which he plans on doing much more regularly and also getting a local legend involved, he said.

“It is kind of on the cusp of happening on a regular basis and I am trying to get Eli the poet who is a really well-known poet and we are going to do some performance stuff at the Guild and a few differ­ent venues,” Cordova said.

Cordova Art which is Cordova’s mixed-media art that he does is meant to be on his website soon and will be called Cordovamixedmediaart.com, he said.

He literally goes out and finds pieces of wood that are thrown away and uses them as his canvases along with other stuff that people throw out, he said.

He also plans on making pop up art shows more common in Albuquerque and hopes to rent out spots for an evening in order to host eve­nings with artists, he said.

These shows would basi­cally be limited edition, once in a lifetime opportunities to spend time with artists and even get good art that is very limited, he said.

Cordova said, “Boom! You have one opportunity to come check out this artist do some nice art and get some art at reasonable prices.”

He also has a clothing company called All For Not Clothing that started all the way back in 2003, Cordova said. The company kind of coincides with Cordova Mixed Media Arts because he collaborates with other artists and plans on doing the same limited edition style cloth­ing that people can get at the once in a lifetime, pop up, art shows, Cordova said.

The idea behind these limited shows and art is basi­cally, “Hey check this out! I went to this art show and there were guys hanging from hooks and there was a dude next to him painting this huge mural and there was a guy on the way out and I could buy his art for like five bucks a piece!” Cordova said.

It is like a miniature, festival that people can go to and feel good about being a part of something bigger, Cordova said.

The Secert Life of Walter Mitty is a stunning and inspirational journey

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By Nick Stern, Managing Editor

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a surprisingly enjoyable film that serves as a reminder that the journey is always more important than the destination.

Directed and led by Ben Stiller of “Tropic Thunder” and “There’s Something About Mary,” this adaptation of James Thurber’s most famous short story is a big leap forward (and in a different direction) in Stiller’s directing career, and he seems to have switched gears almost entirely for this film compared to his previous films.

One of the most enjoyable characteristics of the film was Stuart Dryburgh’s cinematography and big set pieces which were clever and absolutely beautiful.

There were only a few moments the film seemed to falter slightly, which were when the film seemed to fall back to Stiller’s familiar goofiness attempting to get a cheap laugh.

Overall the film was quite enjoyable and very inspiring to get out of the house and live life to the fullest.

Most movies that Ben Stiller has a huge part in generally leads to the assumption that it is probably a comedy full of humor that a child could understand, and usually that assumption is quite correct.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was a huge surprise because that general assumption but could not be more wrong as this film was original in its plot and execution.

Instead of playing a character which is goofy and full of silly jokes, Stiller pulls off the thoughtful and hard-working guy who daydreams of a much more thrilling life that most people who suffer from boredom can relate to in their early 40’s.

This different approach to acting and directing has probably led to one of the most enjoyable films that the star has ever been a part of in his history of comedic acting and directing.

Even if this story was written almost a century ago, by someone else entirely, it was still very impressive to see such a predictable movie star completely switch gears and still be able to pull it off.

The cinematography was also a huge part of what made the movie so entertaining.

Dryburgh did a great job of creating set piece after set piece without it ever turning in to a boring and repetitive formula.

The scenery was not just enjoyable but was stunning and impressively vast.

Almost every single scene, from panoramic shots of Iceland to shots of the interior of the Time Magazine building, succeeded in making the film a memorable visual experience.

The only time that the film fell back a few paces and seemed to lose footing a little was when it tried to fit in the traditional cheap humor that everyone is used to seeing and has been a part of Stiller’s career for its entirety.

These moments were very few and far between and were largely outweighed by everything else that was unique and enjoyable.

The lead female romantic interest played by Kristen Wiig of “Bridesmaids” and “Saturday Night Live” was in only part of the movie, but had a memorable quirkiness to her character that helped to bring the story and plot full circle.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is not just unique to Stiller’s career but it seems to be unique to most of the films that are being created these days, and that is definitely a good thing.

It is a greatly inspirational film that will definitely leave viewers with a desire to get out the door and do something great with their lives.

Most movies should be trying to inspire people the way that this film does because there is just too much out there that is simply mediocre and unmemorable.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty deserves four out of five stars for its pure beauty and its grand design that leaves viewers with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside afterwards.

Free financial seminars offered on campus

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By Dan Chavez, Staff Reporter

A free two-hour work­shop seminar will be at CNM for those out there that need help getting personal finances in order, or just want to learn more about improving finan­cial stability.

The workshop is sched­uled for Thursday January 24 at 2 p.m. in Smith Brasher Hall Room 132, and will educate attendees and partici­pants on the basics of financial management, trainer Vickie Oldman-John said.

The workshop is expected to bring in 25 to 30 and possibly as many as 40 participants of various back­grounds and levels of financial expertise, she said.

Oldman-John said the workshop is open to anyone who wants to learn more about managing money and spending wisely to avoid future financial problems.

Oldman-John is a found­ing partner and co-manager of Seven Sisters Community Development Group, LLC, one of a handful of groups organizing these workshops, including the New Mexico Native Financial Security Initiative, Native Community Finance, New Mexico Regulation and Licensing and Securities Division, and there are several workshops scheduled in various Native American communities within New Mexico, she said.

People of any level of knowledge of finance, from the very inexperienced to very educated, should attend these workshops to gain a better knowledge of dealing with personal finances, she said.

“Many times an expe­rienced person can help us reinforce what is being taught because that person has actu­ally experienced what we are talking about,” she said.

According to the work­shop flier provided by CNM School Relations Manager Julie Fisher, the workshops are organized as a resource for Native American people interested in learning more about managing money and investing wisely.

Oldman-John said that although the seminar is tailored to Native persons, she encourages anyone of any background to attend and participate.

There are also one or two 1-hour coaching calls for participants who are interested in continual learning after the workshop, she said.

Many times, people who earn or have an abun­dant income will think they are experienced in financ­ing, but they attend a work­shop and learn so much more about financing and their own spending habits, she said.

“There is a misconception where people think this is for people who have money prob­lems, but we could all use more education,” she said.

These workshops edu­cate participants in various financing sub-topics, such as budgeting, saving, managing credit, managing money, and holding a retirement account, she said.

One major topic these workshops bring up is how to conserve money when a person is granted a lump sum, such as a settlement, a loan or grant, or an inheri­tance, she said.

Many people who receive a lump sum will spend unwisely until all the money is gone. This workshop teaches people how to invest money so that it will remain and pos­sibly grow, she said.

“They might go out and buy expensive merchan­dise. We teach them to step back and say, ‘do I need this?” Oldman-John said.

Another topic is how to avoid being a victim of fraud or predatory lending. Many entities specifically target certain people who are ste­reotyped as being financially inexperienced, she said.

These workshops teach participants how to spot pred­atory lenders and fraudulent entities so that they will not be victims, she said.

“We also teach them how to not fall into the trap of taking out a loan to pay another loan, which is a very bad thing to do,” she said.

Oldman-John said she frequently receives feed­back from people who are excited that they now know much more about the speech and terms used in financing, she said.

“Many people come back and say how nice it is to have a real conversation with their financial manager. They now understand what’s being said and what’s being asked of them,” she said.

Because these work­shops are framed around Native peoples and financ­ing, trainers tend to use examples from tradition and traditional practices of managing natural resources, she said.

“We try to think of how our ancestors lived with natu­ral resources,” she said

Money is thought of as a natural resource and spend­ing money is thought of as using a natural resource that is not abundant, she said.

“So if a person spends more money than what is being earned, it’s like over­hunting, or using too much water,” Oldman-John said.

Workshop trainers some­times change the metaphor to refer to other ways of life, such as farming where con­servation of resources is vital to the successful management of the farm, she said.

In this way, money can be thought of as a supply that is not abundant, has to be used efficiently and can easily be spent in wrong ways, lead­ing to problems down the road, she said.

Using these metaphors, participants in the workshop can clearly ask themselves if they have enough money to spend, what types of spending is unwise, and in what ways they can reduce spending and save money that may be needed in the future, she said.